Everton wins the GENERALI CEE Cup!

Burnley FC – Everton FC 1:3 (0:2)

The first half of the all English GENERALI CEE Cup final between Burnley and Everton was dominated by „The Toffees“.

They did not just maintain ball possession throughout, they also had most of the chances, managing to score two goals. The first sign of what was to come occurred at the 12th minute, when a free kick from the right-hand corner of the box was crossed to the far post, where Simms headed to the opposite post, towards Gordon, but the play was ultimately stopped for an attacking foul. Two minutes later, Burnley had their only chance of the half, when Samms let off a shot from just outside the box, but the ball was stopped by Hansen. At the 16th, Everton put in a long ball into Burnley’s area, where Simms headed it towards Warren, the latter driving deeper into the box and placing a powerful low cut shot towards the far right of the goal, the ball hitting the inside right-hand post and going in. Two minutes later, Everton found their second goal after Simms was served a great long ball, the striker squeezing between two Burnley defenders and delivering a beautiful shot on goal, the ball going in just past the right-hand post. At the 24th, Burnley tried to create something on the heel of a free kick, but the high ball was grabbed by Hansen, who jumped higher than everyone else. Unfortunately for „The Clarets“, they were unable to create anything more, and the last chance of the half came at the hands of Everton, when Gordon drove into the area after receiving the ball from a corner kick and placed an incredible shot on goal, but the ball hit the crossbar.

The second half saw Burnley fight hard to get back into the match. Everton seemed comfortable allowing „The Clarets“ more leeway, but despite their best efforts they found it hard to cause „The Toffees“ any real trouble. It wasn’t until the 63rd minute that Burnley found a clear chance to score a goal, after Fowler served an assist to Woods inside the box, but his shot was cleared out of play for a corner kick by Hansen. Eleven minutes later, though, Burnley did reopen the match after Fowler found a close range goal on the heel of a free kick. Unfortunately for „The Clarets“, Everton was quick to dash Burnley’s hopes of finding a tie, as a mere two minutes Gordon got away from a couple of defenders and served an assist into the box to Warren, whose shot to the right-hand corner of the goal was deflected by a Burnley defender and found the net. Burnley tried to react as best they could, but ultimately Everton was just too much for them.

All in all, the final was a very enjoyable match. Though the first half saw Everton dominate, „The Clarets“ pulled out all their pride in the second and gave „The Toffees“ a run for their money. In any case, this year’s edition of the GENERALI CEE Cup was a win for the English, who saw two of their teams reach the final and their players collecting all the available prizes: Anthony Gordon (Everton) as Best Player, Adam Bruce (Burnley) as Best Goalkeeper and Ellis Simms (Everton) as Top scorer. It is clear everybody will now look to next year’s tournament to see whether or not Everton will be able to repeat this feat. As for Burnley, will they return to seek revenge for the loss? We can only wait and see.